MORE RUMBLINGS ABOUT MICHELE ROLLINS

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

The first clues came about two weeks ago. State
Republican Chairman Terry A. Strine told some party
insiders there could be a star-quality candidate -- someone
with four children, a degree from a top law school and
high-level Washington experience -- willing to run
against U.S. Sen. Thomas R. Carper, the Democrat up for
election next year.

People started guessing that Strine was talking about
Michele M. Rollins, the businesswoman behind Dover Downs
and Rose Hall, a luxury vacation resort in Jamaica. She
had a Georgetown law degree, federal regulatory
posts and a 23-year-long marriage and four
children with John W. Rollins Sr., a business titan and
Republican financier who died in 2000.

By Friday night, U.S. Rep. Michael N. Castle all but
gave the identity away by dropping a new hint during his
remarks at the 21st annual "Salute at Vicmead," the
premier Republican fund raiser held at the Vicmead Hunt
Club in Centreville in the heart of Chateau Country.

"I hear whispers of a young lady whose initials are
M.R. who might be thinking about running for higher
office," Castle said.

Michele Rollins was the toast of Vicmead, a presence
even without being there. Although the event was located
practically in her backyard, her office said she was
traveling.

Rollins herself has not said a public word about
running, and there are no assurances she will decide to
do it, but she is known to be immersed in a series of
conversations with Republican leaders here and in
Washington. She certainly was the buzz among 400 or so
people at the event.

This was her crowd, her neighborhood, an enclave
impervious to the Democratic march through the northern
reaches that dominate state politics, a place where a
genteel Republicanism is as prevailing as names with
Roman numerals at the end.

Event-goers were swooning over the prospect of having
Rollins at the top of their ticket, even though no one
really even knows where she stands politically. Castle
and state Rep. Deborah D. Hudson, who counts Rollins as
a constituent, believe Rollins shares their moderate
philosophy -- fiscally conservative and socially
progressive -- but do not know for sure.

Edmund N. "Ned" Carpenter II, the dean of Delaware
lawyers, is supposed to be the one who first thought of
Rollins. He was not willing to say, but he was more than
willing to discuss her.

"I think she'd be fabulous," Carpenter said. "I think
it would revitalize the Republican Party. Everybody's
been kind of down in the mouth, and this would be a
breath of fresh air -- someone with not only the charm
but also the smarts."

No one seemed more thrilled than R. Thomas Wagner
Jr., the state auditor who will be on the 2006 ballot.
With Attorney General M. Jane Brady looking at a
judgeship instead of a projected race against Joseph R.
"Beau" Biden III, the Democratic senator's son, Wagner
expects to be the prime target for the Democrats, who
have been gobbling up statewide wins lately.

Rollins could provide covering fire at the top of the
ticket and occupy more of Carper's attention, instead of
giving him a free pass to campaign for other Democrats.

"I'm happy beyond belief," Wagner said. "Thursday
morning at the Leadership Prayer Breakfast, Tom Carper
had a different look. For me, it would like picking up
the paper and seeing Beau decided to run for auditor
instead of attorney general."

# # #

The "Salute at Vicmead" honors
Delaware's leading Republican officeholders. Year in and
and year out, it has been Mike Castle, and it has been
only Mike Castle since Carper beat U.S. Sen. William V.
Roth Jr., a five-term Republican, in 2000.

The tickets are not cheap. They range
from individual tickets for $175 to 8-ticket packages
for $1,500 for "Vicmead Sponsors" and $2,500 for "Vicmead
Eagles."

The reward for attending is a program
that is inversely proportional to the price of the
tickets. In other words, it is guaranteed to be short.

Traditionally W. Laird Stabler Jr., the
party's past national committeeman, introduces Castle,
but Stabler had surgery Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore for a growth in his mouth. Through a letter
from his son, Stabler sent along his customary remarks,
which always set the standard for the evening of
brevity:

"He regrets not being able to introduce
Mike Castle for the one millionth time as the man who
needs no introduction."

In Stabler's absence, Robert V.A. Harra
Jr., the Wilmington Trust president, drew the assignment
to introduce the governor-turned-congressman. Harra also
got the mood -- and the reason -- for the short program
just right, as he noted that Castle holds the record for
the state's lone member in the U.S. House of
Representatives with seven terms.

"For those of you who have been at the
bar for an hour, that would be 14 years," Harra said.

# # #

As short as the Republicans have gotten
in statewide officeholders -- they have three out of
nine -- they are long in deep-pocketed contributors. An
oversized white message card listed 13 corporations,
couples and individuals who attended as "Vicmead
Eagles."

Among the companies, there were familiar
ones like AstraZeneca, Wilmington Trust and probably the
valedictory appearance of what used to be known as MBNA.
No, the bank has not morphed yet into Bank of America,
but its name was written in the style of its new logo as
"mbna."

Talk about shrinking before our very
eyes.

What was lacking in statewide
officeholders also was made up by a bevy of lower-tier
officials, mostly legislators and party officers, who
were all introduced.

About two dozen of them were asked to
crowd onto a small stage under a circus-size white tent,
where the program was held. It led to the quip of the
night, an aside from John S. Bonk, the Christiana-Mill
Creek Republican chair.